Volleyball Drops Five Set Thriller to Lehigh

Saturday, November 14

Bethlehem, PA

4 PM

Army West Point

20-9, 12-4PL

Lehigh

19-12, 11-5PL

Army

Lehigh

Volleyball Drops Five Set Thriller to Lehigh

November 14, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Army West Point volleyball team dropped a five set thriller to Lehigh Saturday night in its regular season finale. The Black Knights led 2-1 after three sets, but the Mountain Hawks came back to clinch the match.

The Black Knights fell to 20-9 overall and 12-4 in the Patriot League.

"We played two really good sets and I hope we can bring those highs back next week at the championship," said head coach Alma Kovaci. "Key individuals on the team have been battling sickness all week and it definitely showed. We gave it our best today, but we weren't at 100 percent. We hope to be there next week."

Nicole Perri, Olivia Fairfield and Vanessa Wesley all recorded 13 points for the Black Knights. Perri tallied 13 kills, while Fairfield had 12. Wesley earned 10 kills and three solo blocks on the night. Carolyn Bockrath also had 10 kills, and earned three total blocks. Vanessa Edwards had 46 assists on the night with 14 digs. Shanell Chong had a team-high 20 digs in the match.

The Black Knights and Mountain Hawks battled back and forth in set one with Lehigh coming out on top 25-20. Army and Lehigh were tied 11 times in the battle for the first set with multiple lead changes.

In set two, Army jumped out to an 11-2 lead to force a Mountain Hawk timeout. The Black Knights maintained their lead to 15-4 before going on a 10-6 run to clinch the set.

Ellie Petersen recorded a service ace before Bockrath was assisted by Edwards. Wesley earned three kills in a row to push the score to 22-7. A kill by Fairfield and an attacking error by the Mountain Hawks helped Army clinch 25-10.

The Cadets started set three similarly to the second with a 12-3 lead. Lehigh chipped away at Army's lead to bring the score to 16-6, still in favor of the Black Knights. Bockrath and Perri were both assisted by Edwards increasing Army's lead to 18-7. The Mountain Hawks tallied a kill and service error to push the score to 19-8.

Perri had another kill to get Army to the 20 point mark. Lehigh gave up a point before earning three straight to bring the third set score to 21-13. The Black Knights went up 23-13 when the Mountain Hawks gave up two points. A kill by Perri set Army up for match point and an attacking error by Lehigh gave the Cadets the set and a 2-1 lead.

In set four, Lehigh came out to a 17-11 lead. The Black Knights fought back to only trail by three points when the Mountain Hawks led 20-17. Lehigh went on a 5-2 run to tie the match at 2-2, forcing a fifth and decisive set between the two squads.

Lehigh went ahead 5-1 in the fifth set forcing Army to call timeout. Wesley jump started the offense with a kill from Edwards. The Mountain Hawks tallied a kill before Amber Clay and Bockrath both earned kills, while Lehigh recorded an attacking error to push the score to 6-5 in favor of the Mountain Hawks.

After Lehigh took an 8-5 lead, Army came back to tie the score at 8-8 with kills by Clay and Bockrath, as well as an attacking error by the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh then scored two-straight points to retake the lead at 10-8 forcing another timeout by the Cadets.

Edwards connected with Clay to earn a kill, but Lehigh scored another two in a row to bring the score to 12-9. Clay recorded another kill, but the Mountain Hawks went ahead 13-10. Wesley then got on the board to force Lehigh to call a timeout. The Mountain Hawks went on a 3-1 run to clinch the match 3-2.

The Black Knights return to action Saturday, Nov. 21, for the Patriot League Tournament hosted by American. Game times will be announced later this week.

For up-to-date information about Army volleyball, please follow @ArmyWP_VB on Twitter and Instagram.